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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24107188">Lighten the Burden</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/admiralandrea/pseuds/admiralandrea'>admiralandrea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCIS: Los Angeles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode Related, Episode Tag, Gen, Slice of Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:22:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>973</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24107188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/admiralandrea/pseuds/admiralandrea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Michelle invites Callen to dinner but she has an ulterior motive</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Michelle Hanna/Sam Hanna</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Lighten the Burden</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Episode tag to S3 E19 "Vengeance".</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they were finally ready to leave Los Cerritos, Callen held his keys out to Sam. “Wanna drive?”</p>
<p>“It’s your car G, why would I want to drive?” Sam looked confused.</p>
<p>Callen shrugged. “Just thought you might like the distraction.”</p>
<p>“I’m good,” Sam said, opening the passenger door.</p>
<p>“Okay then,” Callen muttered to himself. It was going to be a long journey back to L.A. with just the two of them in the car.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>About halfway back, radio on to hide the silence between the partners, Sam’s phone buzzed with an incoming text alert.</p>
<p>“Hetty,” he said a moment later. “She says not to come back to the office till tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Callen grunted an acknowledgement. At the same time, Sam’s phone buzzed again. “Michelle,” Sam said this time. “Wants to know what time we’ll be home for dinner.”</p>
<p>Callen chanced a glance across at his partner, but Sam was still looking at his phone. “We?”</p>
<p>He was back to looking at the road ahead, but Callen could tell Sam was watching him now. “We,” he confirmed. “Michelle says Kam wants your help with a school project.”</p>
<p>Callen frowned at that. “Why would she want my help?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know G,” Sam sounded grumpy. “I’m just passing on the message. What do you want me to tell her.”</p>
<p>G shrugged as best he could when he was driving. You argued with Michelle Hanna at your peril. “I guess I’m coming to dinner,” he said.</p>
<p>Sam didn’t say anything else, but Callen caught a nod out the corner of his eye and then Sam tapping out a return message. It didn’t take long before Sam was reading another message from Michelle.</p>
<p>“She says lasagna for dinner, so don’t be late.”</p>
<p>Callen snorted. “She is familiar with L.A. traffic right?”</p>
<p>“Well do your best G, time and lasagna wait for no man.”</p>
<p>Callen smiled at that, it was nice to hear a lighter note from his partner.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Fortunately, the traffic had co-operated and they made it to the Hanna house in a reasonable time. Callen parked his Jag on Sam’s drive and as they reached the door, it opened to reveal Michelle standing there.</p>
<p>“About time,” she told them as they stepped inside, giving them both the same peck on the cheek in greeting. “Sam, your daughter is in the den waiting for you to help her with her homework. G, you can help me with dinner.”</p>
<p>Callen exchanged a glance with Sam, neither of them expecting that response from Michelle. They didn’t argue though, each going in the direction Michelle had pointed them. As Callen followed Michelle down the hall to the kitchen, he heard Kam’s excited cry of ‘Daddy’, as Sam got to the den first. </p>
<p>“So you don’t actually want me to help with dinner right?” Callen asked, as he paused just inside the kitchen door. His inability to cook was well known by Michelle and he was sure she had things well in hand already.</p>
<p>Michelle gave him a look. “You can lay the table,” she said and he nodded obediently. That was much more his speed.</p>
<p>He knew where everything was, so he went to the cabinet to get out plates. “So how was the case today?” Michelle asked and suddenly Callen knew why she’d been so insistent on him coming to dinner and why she’d gotten him alone.</p>
<p>“Hetty called you.” It wasn’t a question. He turned and set the plates down on the table.</p>
<p>“Hetty called me,” Michelle agreed, looking serious.</p>
<p>Callen sighed and leaned back against the cabinets. “There’s not a lot I can say, because it’s classified, but suffice to say the case involved SEALs as suspects.”</p>
<p>Michelle winced at that. “Yeah,” Callen nodded. </p>
<p>“Sam believed they were innocent though,” Michelle guessed and Callen nodded confirmation. “Which put you at odds with your partner.”</p>
<p>Callen shrugged, she knew him too well, knew that he had trouble trusting anyone could be above reproach, even SEALs.</p>
<p>“So what happened?” Michelle asked.</p>
<p>Callen thought about what he could tell her. “They wouldn’t talk to me,” he said. “Didn’t trust me. So I had to let Sam question them instead. He eventually got to the bottom of it and was able to get them back on track with their mission. There’s likely to be fall out though, from Hetty,” he warned.</p>
<p>Michelle nodded. “Sam won’t care about that.”</p>
<p>“Of course not,” Callen agreed. That was his partner all over. He’d do anything for anyone, whatever the risk to himself. Callen just hoped he thought it was worth it, when this was all done.</p>
<p>Michelle came over to him. “It can’t have been easy for you though,” she said.</p>
<p>Callen looked up, startled. “Having to do that, be the suspicious one, put doubt in his mind,” she clarified.</p>
<p>“That’s my job,” he said. It was something he was used to, taking a step back and seeing all the sides to a situation.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t mean it’s easy though.”</p>
<p>Callen sighed and shook his head. No, he didn’t like anything that put him at odds with his partner.</p>
<p>“As Sam likes to say, the only easy day was yesterday,” he told Michelle.</p>
<p>She smiled at that. “He does. Now how about you finish setting the table while I go get the others?”</p>
<p>“Michelle?” She turned back to look at him. “There was never any project Kam needed my help on was there?”</p>
<p>She didn’t answer him, just smirked and winked before heading out of the kitchen. Callen smiled ruefully to himself, shaking his head. He should be angry, being manipulated like that by both Hetty and Michelle, but he knew they meant well and he found he actually liked it that they cared enough to make sure he and Sam were going to be okay, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In my head this was going to be G/Hannas but it never quite made it on to the page. Title from a quote by Charles Dickens - "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another."</p></blockquote></div></div>
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